Piece By Piece
by Sophie Sweetheart
Summary: Hanna's slumber party takes a turn for the worst when the girls recieve a visit from an uninvited guest.


Aria, Emily and Spencer were all staying over at Hanna's for the night due to her mom being out late. The reappearance of A had scared all of the girls, they were all certain it was Mona and that she was safely behind bars where she couldn't possibly hurt any of them again, unfortunately this was not the case. It was 1am and the girls had all gone to bed, Hanna lay asleep in her bed soundly. The scratching made her wake up with a start. She began to listen closer and more intently. Her breathing rose and she begged her pounding heart to quieten so she could uncover the identity of these strange sounds. The scraping on the wall behind her got louder and more demanding. She sat up abruptly, could this be A inside her house? She jumped off the bed and rushed over to the other girls waking Spencer first by shaking her arm and whispering loudly, her frantic behaviour managing to wake both Aria and Emily at the same time also. She didn't have to say anything; the scratching was getting even louder and was followed by a very abrupt bang until silence was once restored into the house again.

The four girls stood up instantly and linked hands with each other, "Come on" Spencer whispered and led the way as she often did, she was the bravest of the four girls and the one that usually took charge of the situation. Spencer pushed the door open cautiously, scared of what she could possibly find on the other side, all four girls held their breath as the door swung open, they walked inside, it was pitch black. Hanna scrambled around for the light switch which was located against the far wall, she flicked it and the flash of light unveiled the horrific sight which was displayed in front of them. The girls reacted in the same way as one another, screams and cries rang through the Marin household as they stared in horrified astonishment at the sight that lay beneath their eyes. The words "I'm back bitches, one piece at a time. -A" were scrawled across the pastel wall in messy handwriting. The words were a deep red colour, one that reflected blood, knowing A it probably was blood. The most heinous thing about this was what was laid carelessly on the floor beside the threat, what looked to be a human finger, a dab of blood left on the tip.

"Oh, my gosh." Hannah whispered tearfully, Arias grip on Hanna's hand strengthened as she tried to find some word to comfort her but found none.

"D'do you think that's Ali's?" Emily asked as her eyes remained fixated on the finger on the ground,

"I think so." Spencer replied breathlessly, her heart thudding inside her. "Let's get out of here, A might still be around here."

Spencer approached the window and stared into the darkness outside "ugh, it's no good I can't see a thing and A must be long gone by now." She frowned as she laid her head against the glass; Aria walked over to Spencer and joined her by the window as the two of them tried to figure out how A managed to get into the bedroom that belonged to Ashley Marin. Hannah resided to her mom's bed and buried her head in her hands.

"How? Why?" She asked herself as Emily sat down beside her and wrapped her arm around the blonde, everything about this was unnerving, especially for Hannah. The thought that A was in her house made her feel extremely unsafe, the bloodied message on the wall which was written by Ali's finger was even more taunting. "My mum will be back soon" She whispered just loud enough for Emily to hear.

"We should clean up; I'll get some water and sponges." She stood up and was joined by Aria and Spencer who had come to the conclusion that A had more than likely scaled the drainpipe to reach the second floor bedroom.

"I'll help you with the water." Aria said as she followed Emily out of the bedroom and downstairs to find some cleaning products. Spencer moved in closer to the crime scene to investigate as Hannah remained on the bed trying to calm herself down.

"You know, this isn't necessarily blood." Spencer frowned thoughtfully as she touched the writing with her fingertip, "I mean it could just as easily be red paint or a similar substance." She looked closer at the damp wall and shrugged before turning her attention to the tool that it was written in. She bent down to get a closer look, avoiding the urge to touch it. "Han, come and look at this for a second." She called over to her friend, Hannah stood up regaining her demure and walked over to Spencer.

"Spence, I mean this in the nicest way possible but I'd really not like a closer look at the remains of my best friend." Spencer shook her head and looked up at Hannah who was folding her arms and looking away in disgust.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"What do you mean?" Hannah asked as Aria and Emily re-entered the room along with buckets of water and brushes and sponges. They set them down beside the wall and gathered around Spencer as they sensed that she could be on to something.

"What's going on?" The two of them asked in sync with each other. Spencer smiled one of her smug Hasting's smiles and picked up the finger much to the disapproval of the other girls.

"Look at the finger nail." She said as she displayed the chipped nail which had a coat of purple varnish over it. Hannah looked at it confusingly.

"She's been dead for like 2 years, I think we can forgive her for having a bad manicure." She shrugged as she missed the point Spencer was trying to make to her.

"It's a dud, A wants us to think this is Ali's finger, but we all know Ali's nails were hot pink when she was buried, when did she ever where any colour other than pink?" She asked rhetorically and dumped the finger down on the ground again, "A just wants us to think that he or she is leaving Ali's remains scattered around the town, A might not even have her body." She concluded and stood up, meeting the height of the other girls, "now, we should get rid of this mess before Hanna's mom gets back." She walked over and grabbed a sponge dunking it into the bucket and started to scrub at the letters on the wall. The other girls followed her direction and started to clean the wall. It didn't take long until the wall had regained its natural colour and the four girls looked at it approvingly.

"I'm so tired of always having to clear up after A." Emily sighed and threw her sponge back in a bucket.

"We should start charging." Aria agreed, and ran her fingers through her hair, fluffing it up slightly at the ends.

A choir of ringtones sounded from the other room as the girls all rolled their eyes; the collective siren meant that they had all received texts from A. The girls cleared away the cleaning equipment and returned to Hanna's room where they checked their phones; an identical text message appeared on each of their screens. "This is just the beginning; I hear senior year's a real bitch. Sweet dreams. -A."


End file.
